DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — Use of the mRNA vaccine took off during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the technology behind the shots was originally designed to battle cancer.
Now, new studies show encouraging results for those receiving a personalized vaccine to prevent a recurrence of melanoma.
Dr. James Ouellette, a surgical oncologist at Premier Health, joined 2 NEWS to discuss these findings.
“At least right now, we have not seen all of the published data…This was just recently available information, ” Dr. Ouellette said. “We all do want to see that full data set. Really, what it looks at is people who have had melanoma. It looks like the people chosen for this study had a high-risk melanoma.”
Dr. Ouellette said the goal is that the mRNA vaccine will allow a person’s immune system to react to 34 different neoantigens.
“We certainly want to see what that true data looks like,” Dr. Ouellette said. “It’s going to be following those same patients out for longer to see if this short-term interval equates to long term survival changes and long-term treatments.”
More information about the mRNA vaccine and how it can be used to combat various diseases can be found here.
